Clueless teens, 17, baffled by a rotary phone

[Ronald_55]

1 hour ago, Dirtshooter said:

Sure makes me feel old. Oh the rotary dial phone, and the party line. Hey Murgatroy I still have the flexible allen tool to set the points on a GM vehicle with window in distributor cap. This reminds me of the story of the gentleman that left his keys in his 1956 Chevy at the parts store and some Hispanic guys stole it, drove across town and paid $10 for gas but could not figure out where the gas filler door was. They left walking and the owner got his car back. Just like a 3 on the tree standard shift, most people under 40 would scratch their heads and go, Huh.

I have a '56 Chevy Stepside truck that was my Papaw's. It is origional. I asked my kids how to start it.....no one knew that weird thing in the floorboard is the starter. No young punk could start it, let alone drive the 3 on the tree. 

Now if I could just get it up and running. Time and cash.. always my enemy. 

I am in IT, the real issue is that people DON'T want to know how to do things. They want it done for them.  Does not matter if it is changing a car's oil, running a table saw, or correcting an issue in Excel. 

[10-Ring]

It's obsolete technology.  Literally no one uses rotary telephones anymore.  I doubt very few 17 year olds have ever used a rotary phone, and I doubt that very few 40 year olds on this forum have started a fire using flint and steel, or friction methods.  I still have a rotary phone on the wall in my garage as a conversation piece.

Young kids get a bad rap, how many of you that fuss about kids being useless and ignorant have spent time teaching kids, especially kids that aren't yours, how to do things?  I know people of all ages who are useless.

[Erich]

These are some generalizations at work being read at the extremes, and some examples are disparate comparisons when 100 years out of date versus a few that keeps it viable in a recent social context.

Personally I look at on a case by case. This was more an excercise in problem solving and use of analytical process, which you can hear in the parents comments. That is really the fail, less about the phone.  I think that is easy enough to see in how one works a problem. Do you just keep repeating the same thing over and over for example, and frustration tolerance.

I have a working rotary, it’s for a retro room with a bar Globe. Works fine thru an analog to digital converter BTW.

[Murgatroy]

The point is, any of us could be handed an item that was obsolete twenty five years before we were born and be completely confused by what it was. The fact that it was an essential daily item means nothing when it was replaced by a far superior item that evolved a dozen times.

[Whisper]

3 hours ago, Murgatroy said:

The point is, any of us could be handed an item that was obsolete twenty five years before we were born and be completely confused by what it was. The fact that it was an essential daily item means nothing when it was replaced by a far superior item that evolved a dozen times.

Agreed.  There's mighty few people left today that can milk a cow.  Doesn't mean they are morons.  (I haven't milked one myself in nearly 50 years.)   Times change, technologies change, routine daily tasks change.

[Erich]

I understood your standpoint around tech, but you are glazing over other aspects of this as you latch on to the part you find derisive or as an attack on maybe your children. Intelligence has a large social / cultural context as well, not that everyone understands that or may agree with it.

But I get your real point. You are right and anyone with expectation that they performed better is absolutely wrong. I politely decline to agree. 

[Garufa]

I would love to have a rotaty phone.  Times were much simpler and less frantic when they were used.  

[deerslayer]

4 minutes ago, Garufa said:

I would love to have a rotaty phone.  Times were much simpler and less frantic when they were used.  

Yeah I miss them too.  If the Norks EMPd us back to the 19th century, that would be a terrible thing.  If they somehow EMPd us back to 1980, everyone under 35 would probably have lower blood pressure.  

[GlockSpock]

The flip side of this is that there is also the biggest potential for "us" from this newer generation to teach ourselves skills and do things ourselves.

Is everyone/all of us like this? No. Are some of us extremely resourceful and capable of doing a lot of stuff ourselves?

I think so.

Utilized in a positive manner, with Google, YouTube, and all of the other DIY sites, there are few things that you cannot teach yourself to do if you set your mind to it.

[Garufa]

5 minutes ago, GlockSpock said:

Utilized in a positive manner, with Google, YouTube, and all of the other DIY sites, there are few things that you cannot teach yourself to do if you set your mind to it.

If the youths of today ever find themselves in the need to yank a cow’s titty for nourishment there’s not going to be any instructional videos available.  

 

[Erich]

44 minutes ago, Garufa said:

I would love to have a rotaty phone.  Times were much simpler and less frantic when they were used.  

You should get one, especially if you have a land line. It’s amusing for guests and a fun throw back. The irony I’d mine is next to a wireless router, but it’ll be moving soon. 

[tacops]

4 hours ago, Whisper said:

(I haven't milked one myself in nearly 50 years.) 

Man, that is a really old cow.

[Erik88]

42 minutes ago, Garufa said:

If the youths of today ever find themselves in the need to yank a cow’s titty for nourishment there’s not going to be any instructional videos available.  

 

Not true.

 

 

[Garufa]

34 minutes ago, Erik88 said:

Not true.

 

 

Looks like you’re ready for when there’s no more internet.  

[Jeb48]

I had a rotary wall phone installed in the basement of our previous house. It was an old ATT phone with a cast aluminum receiver. I brought it with me when we moved to TN in 2015. For probably the last 10 years it was installed you could only receive, not dial out. Since I installed it for emergencies, if we had to take cover in the basement, I had to install a more modern phone beside it for dialing out. I did bother reinstalling it here but couldn't bring myself to leave it behind.

It is interesting that in the span of about 35 years we went from a party line, to a private line, to having to pay extra if we wanted to use touch tone, to free touch tone, to pulse dial not working. Then the whole phone thing went really crazy.

I refused to pay for touch tone so I had a bunch of push button phones that put out fake pulse dialing. 

[Ronald_55]

2 minutes ago, Jeb48 said:

I had a rotary wall phone installed in the basement of our previous house. It was an old ATT phone with a cast aluminum receiver. I brought it with me when we moved to TN in 2015. For probably the last 10 years it was installed you could only receive, not dial out. Since I installed it for emergencies, if we had to take cover in the basement, I had to install a more modern phone beside it for dialing out. I did bother reinstalling it here but couldn't bring myself to leave it behind.

It is interesting that in the span of about 35 years we went from a party line, to a private line, to having to pay extra if we wanted to use touch tone, to free touch tone, to pulse dial not working. Then the whole phone thing went really crazy.

I refused to pay for touch tone so I had a bunch of push button phones that put out fake pulse dialing. 

Just think if they had handed them a butt set to use with just the alligator clip ends. 

My Dad still has a payphone in his storage he keeps saying he is gonna hook up in the basement. 

[Murgatroy]

1 hour ago, Jeb48 said:

I had a rotary wall phone installed in the basement of our previous house. It was an old ATT phone with a cast aluminum receiver. I brought it with me when we moved to TN in 2015. For probably the last 10 years it was installed you could only receive, not dial out. Since I installed it for emergencies, if we had to take cover in the basement, I had to install a more modern phone beside it for dialing out. I did bother reinstalling it here but couldn't bring myself to leave it behind.

It is interesting that in the span of about 35 years we went from a party line, to a private line, to having to pay extra if we wanted to use touch tone, to free touch tone, to pulse dial not working. Then the whole phone thing went really crazy.

I refused to pay for touch tone so I had a bunch of push button phones that put out fake pulse dialing. 

Dude, I had forgot about that whole fake pulse tone dialing thing. My wife is a few years younger than me and I was trying to explain pulse dialing to her. She wasn't getting it.

 

[OLDNEWBIE]

I've started to collect rotary phones many years ago and have a couple sitting around as decoration. Yes I'm a nerd!

They will never be worth a fortune because of the huge amount produced but you would be surprised by what price good examples fetch.

I got all mine at thrift stores before people started collecting them. I've also toyed with the Idea of collecting old transistor radios,  film cameras or similar bygone tech.  

Ever look at the quality, craftsmanship and style that went into a 8mm 1950s film projector?  I'm sure there are museums that focus on this stuff. 

Gotta have some place where teens can see what it was like back then.

P.S. Typewriters as well!

 

Edited January 17, 2019 by OLDNEWBIE

[dralarms]

1 hour ago, OLDNEWBIE said:

I've started to collect rotary phones many years ago and have a couple sitting around as decoration. Yes I'm a nerd!

They will never be worth a fortune because of the huge amount produced but you would be surprised by what price good examples fetch.

I got all mine at thrift stores before people started collecting them. I've also toyed with the Idea of collecting old transistor radios,  film cameras or similar bygone tech.  

Ever look at the quality, craftsmanship and style that went into a 8mm 1950s film projector?  I'm sure there are museums that focus on this stuff. 

Gotta have some place where teens can see what it was like back then.

P.S. Typewriters as well!

 

My daughter came in not to long ago with a Star Trek enterpriser phone for me in good working order and in good shape. 

[OLDNEWBIE]

On 1/11/2019 at 10:45 AM, Erich said:

have a working rotary, it’s for a retro room with a bar Globe. Works fine thru an analog to digital converter BTW.

Will it ring? Trying to figure out how to set mine up.

[DaveTN]

I don't know whats up with these youngsters. I like to keep up on tech and have the most recent advancements. They would have no problem using my stuff.

 

[Oh Shoot]

1 hour ago, OLDNEWBIE said:

Will it ring? Trying to figure out how to set mine up.

I guess I'm missing something? My mom's house has one of the standard 3 phone touch tone  wireless systems with base unit that plugs into standard phone socket. But also an old Bell Princess rotary in one room and a Bell rotary wall model in garage, All work fine from any plug.

Now I do believe the 2 dial phones have a "touch/rotary" switch on them at the bottom (I forget the exact designation). So is this the diff, that they are "modern" rotary phones compared to what some of you are talking about?

-OS

 

[Capbyrd]

https://www.dialgizmo.com

[Erich]

2 hours ago, Capbyrd said:

https://www.dialgizmo.com

Yes phone rings. Cap beat me to it, I use this device. You have to have an existing voice service, in my case At&t.

[OLDNEWBIE]

4 hours ago, Erich said:

Yes phone rings. Cap beat me to it, I use this device. You have to have an existing voice service, in my case At&t.

We had cable, internet and phone bundle and now ooma that works with WiFi. No way to make that work.

What I'd like to do is hook up two old rotary phones with each other and have a way to make them ring.